Tips and Tricks for Enclosure Design and Maintenance

[Scotts1au]

How big should it be?
How do you keep the cat off!!?
What do you use for a basking spot?
What makes your enclosure more acceptable to your other half? :-)

Anything else you use that you'de like to share that you have found works really well.

Lets go

[Richard.C]

As big as you can adequatly heat and offer the right choices

Rat traps ,bahahahaha

Kidding

I dont bother trying to keep cats off cages,as the more uou try to prevent it,the more the little buggers want to get up there,so make it cat tamper proof,my wiring is inside cage,and lighting and heat to so no concerns bout the little turds,oops i mean cats swiping lights off ect


Basking spots i like to use flat rock or tiles/pavers,or branches or other wood for more adventurous types like egernia

The one acceptable thing to make my other half happy and not whine in my ear,ouch,i mean to make my lovely other half happy is keep them out of the house in a garage,my ear still cops it though just quietly,lol

[NickBrahz]

As big as you are able to fit, minimum of 3 feet through i learn towards 4feet as minimum personally.
No idea don't have a cat at my house maybe hook a car battery up to the lid?
For 2 of my enclosures i use a paver for the 3rd i use a very flat rock, anything that is relatively flat and can contain some amount of heat.
My lizards are my other half(halves).

[splashy07]

As big as you can afford/have room for, but just had to move one of mine into a smaller one and he seems to like it much better, so not sure there
I'm allergic to cats, don't have one, although I do fasten my light fixtures to the screens with wire so I do not knock them off, I am clumsier than any cat
piece of a good size flat rock or slate, some have hides atop which they bask also
My significant other does not live with me so no problems there (he doesn't like reptiles anyway, surprised he puts up with me)
Fun topic, interesting to see what everyone has to say!

[alichamp]

I also was advised minimum of 3ft and I chose a 4ft (1225mm) glass enclosure figuring that if our BTS grows to expected around 60cm it will be half the length of the enclosure! Also found the temp gradient good with this size. I keep the lights in individual lamps sitting on the mesh top.

I found though that having the little Bub in the big enclosure he seemed a bit too scared. Hid all the time. So I filled it with lots of low lying things for him to explore his cage under cover (ie without being too exposed) using (artificial) logs, plants, and skulls and holey cardboard boxes and toilet paper/ paper towel rolls. He went exploring much more comfortably after that. I have a small concrete paver in there for basking but he doesnt bask.

I don't have any other pets BUT I did keep a lock on the enclosure to keep out the little kid. Funnily enough he seemed much more interested in the lock itself and attracted lots of attention, so much for that theory. I have the lock off now and he only looks in sometimes and knows he's not supposed to touch without us there.

Keeping the enclosure looking pretty with plants and interesting things keeps hubby happy, along with the fact that there is nothing in there to be allergic too and he doesn't have to do anything for the pet!

I'd also be interested to read people's thoughts on glass vs melamine. I like glass because it's so easy to clean with bleach etc (especially when I had to treat for mites) and it looks nice too, but melamine probably provides a bit more 'privacy' for BTS, helps keep the temps up, and is stackable.

[Dakota]

For the love of keeping the enclosure not soaked, tape water bowls down with duct tape or get really heavy water bowls. :-)

[wermy]

^Or do what I did and build a mini-pond right into the tank itself, with stacked river stones and aquarium-safe silicon sealant. I made a levee/dam with water on one side and substrate on the other side, and covered the bottom of the water side with aquarium pebbles so it looks like a garden pond. It's a little more effort to clean, but looks great, is big and stable enough for a large skink to splash around in, and never spills.

[Richard.C]

Your skink splashes around?

[splashy07]

Wow, id love to see a picture of that, mine has a good old time in her large water dish but would love to see one splashing around in a pond...